This invention pertains to the art of values and more particularly to pinch tube type valves or faucets.
The invention is particularly applicable to dispensing liquids from containers having an elongated flexible outlet tube disposed at the bottom end thereof and will be described with particular reference thereto; however, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention has broader applications and is equally applicable to any number of other liquid dispensing environments.
Nonessential subject matter from the commonly assigned patent application Ser. No. 508,208 filed Sept. 23, 1974 now U.S. Pat No. 3,976,277 is incorporated hereinto by reference.
The subject pinch tube valve comprises a variation of the valve disclosed and claimed in the commonly assigned application and is equally applicable to those environments and uses as the valve disclosed therein. The subject new valve, however, provides a structure which is deemed to be particularly beneficial from manufacturing and use standpoints.
In using the concepts of the subject invention, a certain amount of machining or mold costs may be eliminated and convenient means are provided to differentiate between a plurality of identical valves which are used in dispensing different liquids. In the copending and commonly assigned patent application, an aperture having a key-like configuration is provided to both receive and retain a pinch tube in a desired angular disposition relative to the valve passageway. The key-like aperture is comprised of a slot-like portion extending inwardly along the bottom surface of the valve body from the outlet end of the passageway and opening into a tube retaining portion disposed at the innermost end of the slot-like portion. The slot-like portion has a width less than the cross-sectional dimension. of the tube and the tube retaining portion has a cross-sectional dimension greater than the width of the slot-like portion.
Accordingly, when the valve body is constructed from steel, brass or the like, this area is necessarily machined into the valve body and as such, requires separate and distinct machining operations in order to achieve the precise physical dimensions of the apertured area. Likewise, when the valve is molded from plastic, the mold itself necessarily requires more intricate features in order that the precise physical dimensions of the apertured area would be included in the final molded valve body. Although the pinch tube valve described and claimed in the commonly assigned application Ser. No. 508,208 proves entirely satisfactory in use, the inclusion of the multi-dimensioned tube retaining aperture adds undesired production costs to the final valve assembly.
In addition, it has been found that it is oftentimes desirable to provide a number of liquid containers, each with their own pinch tube valve, disposed in the closely spaced relationship with each other whereby a number of different types of liquid may be dispensed as may be desired and/or required. By way of example only, in a restaurant type environment where wine is dispensed from containers by the "glass" through use of pinch tube valves, it has been found desirable to include a number and variety of wines in separate containers in order that customers may have a wider selection of wines dispensed by that method. In this as well as other situations, it has become desirable to provide easy and convenient means for identifying the liquid included within each container in order that it may be appropriately dispensed when desired. Heretofore in this situaion, mistakes as to the proper or desired liquid to be dispensed have caused difficulty resulting in dissatisfied customers, loss of liquid and in some liquid dispensing environments, damage to equipment, machinery or the like.